Good Morning. Welcome to The Wire’s daily news roundup. Each day, our staff gathers the top China business, finance, and economics headlines from a selection of the world’s leading news organizations.
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The Wall Street Journal
- New Missile for Truck-Based Himars Launchers Has China in Its Sights — The precision strike missile, or PrSM, could help the U.S. control waterways in the Pacific.
- Forget Cartier: Made-in-China Luxury Captivates Chinese Consumers — Western brands suffer downturn, while gold jewelry brand Laopu’s stock price surges.
- China Strong-Armed Japan Over Rare Earths. It’s a Lesson for the U.S. — After a 2010 clash, Tokyo understood Beijing’s coercive power, but it still wasn’t ready this year.
- CK Hutchison Seeks to Include Chinese Investor in Panama Port Deal — The deal, valued at $22.8 billion, excludes Chinese ports but has faced scrutiny from China’s antitrust regulator.
- Beijing Pivots to Rein In Excess Capacity Amid Squeezed Industrial Profit — In the latest sign of stress facing Chinese companies, official data showed China’s industrial profit declined 1.8% from a year earlier in the first half of the year.
- A Cosmic Mystery: Is China Building the World’s Biggest Telescope? — Top American astronomers hunt for clues about a 48-foot-wide giant that Beijing isn’t talking about.
The Financial Times
- China launches $500 annual baby subsidy in bid to boost births — Measure aims to address demographic crisis and boost families’ spending power.
- China’s Shaolin Temple says head faces criminal investigation — Abbot Shi Yongxin has been suspended, according to the cradle of Zen Buddhism and home of Chinese martial arts.
- Trump freezes export controls to secure trade deal with China — US officials have been warned to avoid tough moves against Beijing as Stockholm hosts third round of negotiations.
- Taiwanese voters reject motion to recall opposition lawmakers — Result risks aggravating a political crisis as Taipei attempts to bolster its defences against Beijing.
- China proposes global body to govern artificial intelligence — Premier Li Qiang warns ‘bottlenecks’ in chip supplies are hindering innovation.
- Opinion: China’s battle with deflation isn’t just a demand problem — Beijing’s policies have encouraged overproduction and excessive competition. By The Editorial Board.
The New York Times
- Tracking Trump’s Tariffs: Rates for China, the E.U. and More — The president is set to raise taxes on imports arriving from many countries, including Canada and Mexico. That’s on top of the tariffs that the White House has already announced on specific products, including foreign cars.
- U.S. and China Meet as Trade Truce Nears Expiration — Top American and Chinese officials are meeting for two days of talks in Stockholm as the Trump administration tries to complete trade deals.
- Taiwan Recall Campaign Fizzles, in a Setback to Its President — An unprecedented vote to remove lawmakers from office could have handed President Lai Ching-te more power by ousting opponents. It didn’t.
Caixin
- China’s Mutual Fund Minnows Struggle to Survive — The lucrative ‘soft dollar’ system that benefitted fund companies and brokerages at the expense of investors has been dismantled as part of an industry overhaul, threatening to shut out all but the biggest firms.
- Succession, Scandal and Bottled Water — the Real Battle at the Heart of Wahaha Court Case — Inside the billion-dollar tug-of-war shaking China’s most iconic beverage brand.
- Opinion: China’s Digital Platforms Needs Healthy Competition, Not Ruinous Price Wars — Regulators in Beijing are again signaling their concern with the state of China’s digital platform economy. By Caixin.
South China Morning Post
- China faces off against US for domination of the DR Congo’s critical minerals industry — China’s pushback includes envoy to Congo underlining Beijing’s commitment to supporting the central African country address its crises.
- Yuen Yuen Ang on how China can turn ‘polycrisis’ into ‘polytunity’ — The Johns Hopkins professor of political economy says Beijing’s ‘directed improvisation’ remains essential at a time when innovation is king.
- Why some Chinese students are skipping elite universities amid job market fears — Top schools see fewer applicants for some majors, as economic pressures push young people to chase career stability.
- How Chinese scientists fought for 74 years to build most powerful dam on Earth – and won — Beijing has launched the massive Yarlung Tsangpo hydropower project in southern Tibet after decades of scientific research.
- Mainland Chinese hotel brands poised to reshape Hong Kong’s hospitality scene, analysts say — Chinese operators are expanding their footprint in Hong Kong, a major destination for mainland travellers, analysts say.
Nikkei Asia
- China fight with mosquito-borne virus stirs zero-COVID flashbacks — City of Foshan deploys PCR tests, home checks, drones against chikungunya.
- Half of Japanese detainees in China convicted of espionage — 9 of 17 provided information to Japan intelligence, Chinese authorities say.
- Opinion: Young Chinese ‘almost forget’ aspirations amid demographic tumult — Surgeons, civil servants and teachers turn to livestreaming and running food stalls. By Ilaria Maria Sala and Cheung Hok Hang.
Bloomberg
- How Li Ka-shing Landed in the Middle of US-China Tiff — When President Trump called for the US to retake control of the Panama Canal during his inauguration speech, it set off a chain of events that landed tycoon Li Ka-shing in the middle of a US-China tiff.
- Boxing, Backflipping Robots Rule at China’s Biggest AI Summit — From lumbering six-foot machines to nimble back-flipping dogs, robots lorded over China’s most important annual AI conference in Shanghai this week.
- BYD Runs India Remotely as China Tensions Shut Out Top Brass — China’s BYD is forging ahead with attempts to expand in India despite roadblocks from the government that are preventing the EV maker from conducting key business dealings there.
Reuters
- Chinese consumer complaints show widespread padding of car sales — In more than a dozen cases, buyers said they were informed by dealerships that the practice was specifically designed to meet sales targets.
- US Democrats, Republicans plan bills to pressure China as Trump pushes trade — The three bills, seen by Reuters ahead of their introduction, have Democratic and Republican sponsors, a departure from the fierce partisanship dividing Washington.
- Chinese AI firms form alliances to build domestic ecosystem amid US curbs — The “Model-Chip Ecosystem Innovation Alliance” brings together Chinese developers of large language models (LLMs) and AI chip manufacturers.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: Trump Is Pushing India to Submit to China — Without clear U.S. support, the cost of resisting Beijing is too high.
- The Washington Post: Trump’s bid to keep China from dodging tariffs risks supply chain headaches — The Trump administration’s bid to stop Chinese manufacturers from evading U.S. tariffs may lead to supply chain disruptions and increased costs for American companies.
- The Atlantic: The Pentagon’s Policy Guy Is All In On China — Elbridge Colby wants the U.S. military to pivot toward Asia, even if it means turning away from Europe and the Middle East.
- Rest of World: The surprise winner in the U.S.-China tech war? Vietnam’s chip industry — Vietnamese chip component suppliers are responding to growing market demands for products with no Chinese link.
- MIT Technology Review: Chinese universities want students to use more AI, not less — Unlike the West, where universities are still agonizing over how students use AI in their work, top universities in China are going all in.
